SAN FRANCISCO — The return of Klay Thompson has been the biggest feel-good story of the Golden State Warriors season. Each week he's looking more and more like his old self. The only part of him we haven't seen this year was Game 6 Klay.
But that changed Friday night in the closeout game against the Memphis Grizzlies, when the former All-Star scored a game-high 30 points. This big-time performance was expected by many, but Thompson says it wasn't something he thought about.
“It's something that just comes naturally,” Thompson told ClutchPoints. “I don't go to sleep thinking about scoring 30 or shooting the ball well. I just think about how far I've come and how grateful I am to have another closeout game at Chase, and luckily it was one of my nights, and carry this momentum into the WCF.”
The Warriors pulled away at the end of the game, but most of the night the score was close. Each of Thompson’s 30 points were necessary for Golden State to withstand another dogged effort from the short-handed Grizzlies. He was the only Warrior who had it going all night, and the sharpshooter was the reason they were in a position to take over in the final period.
The final score was 110-96, a win that gives the Warriors their sixth Conference Finals appearance in the last eight seasons. It's their first time advancing this far in the postseason since 2019. Next, the Dubs will face the winner of the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks series.
The series will begin on May 18th, and the Warriors are looking forward to their next challenge.